Negotiating pay when I have been out of work - 13 months and counting

A recruiter asked for my salary expectations on a first call as I look for work as a school bus driver. I have read a lot of threads here and could not find my exact situation. I looked up ranges in San Diego and they vary a lot.

Thanks for writing this out. I went through something close to it 13 months ago, and it got easier once I kept a simple log of every call and form.